On this Martin Luther King Day, one day before the historic inauguration of the United States’ first president of color, I encourage everyone to also remember Dr. King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, who died almost exactly two years ago.

Refusing to rest on her laurels, Mrs. King became an outspoken advocate of gay rights, for which she was heavily criticized by many conservative members of the African American and Christian communities.  Mrs. King, however, believed strongly that it was a distortion of her husband’s cause to celebrate him from the same pulpits and podiums which were, on other days, used to spread homophobic messages.

Here is one of my favorite quotations from Mrs. King:

Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group. (Chicago Defender, 1 April 1998)

To read more about what Coretta Scott King had to say on the subject of gay rights, check out Soulforce’s excellent website.